Alcohol & Drugs — How Dangerous is the Combination?
Mixing alcohol and drugs is far too common nowadays. About 60% people who regularly take prescription drugs are known to consume alcohol. There are only 5% who have least three drinks in a row when they do. A fatal overdose is always a possibility for anyone choosing to misuse drugs and alcohol. The biggest risk is to combine alcohol with drugs. Mixing substances is always dangerous, but certain combinations are riskier than others. If you happen to be taking any of these kinds of drugs as directed by a doctor, never mix them with alcohol. Addiction is not the worst possible consequence of substance abuse. If you risk abusing drugs or alcohol, you risk your life. A prescription narcotic painkiller taken with alcohol is one of the dangerous combinations to risk your life. And so are sedatives, sleeping pills and alcohol. Any type of sleeping or anti-anxiety pills, depressants are just like alcohol and consuming them with alcohol multiplies the sedatives effect. Operating any kind of machinery or sometimes even trying to walk is dangerous when using this combination of substances. Like alcohol, it acts on the hypothalamus in the brain and slows breathing, heart rate, body temperature and blood pressure. The additive effect of using both sleeping pills and alcohol can slow these necessary bodily functions to a dangerous degree. Sleeping or anti-anxiety pills also act more quickly than other sedatives, which pose yet another hazard when combining it with alcohol. Mixing drugs and alcohol is always risky, but these particular combinations are the most dangerous and can be fatal. If you have been prescribed any of these medications, take the warning seriously to avoid alcohol. And, if you abuse these medications with alcohol, now is the time to stop before it’s too late. The mixture of alcohol and street drugs such as cocaine and heroin usually leads to increased strain on the heart and other major organs. It also causes respiratory problems, severe hallucinations, intestinal distress, and comas. The never ending combination of symptoms can scarcely be quantified. Use of alcohol with high doses of cocaine or heroin can produce an additive effect and greatly increase the likelihood of overdose. Alcohol abuse in combination with drugs such as ecstasy or GHB can lead to severe dehydration and damage to the heart and central nervous system. A recipe for disaster is mixing alcohol and drugs; many individuals mix alcohol and drugs and mistakenly assume that the effects will simply add together or that a little bit of substance won’t have much of an effect on another. Unfortunately, some combinations are quite dangerous and even deadly.